Romans 3:23 reads, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
In other words, mankind fell into temptation and sin in the beginning,
causing a separation between God and their relationship with Him. John
3:16 reads, "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." We have
all fallen short of the glory of God and have sinned, but through Jesus
Christ, we are brought back into eternity with God. As a counselor who
would primarily work with those of the faith, I am aware that the care-
seeker is most likely to already know interventions and terms such as
Scripture, prayer, and the concept of sin. Entwistle writes, "Religious-
based interventions can be as generic as encouraging a client to pray, or
the read the Psalms, or they may govern the entire therapeutic process
(Entwistle, 2015).
Clients would already be exposed to such knowledge for my counseling
sessions, and therefore, I can be quite transparent in terminology. One of
my methods would be to dissect their problems and guide the client to
become aware of the root of their problem. The confrontation of sin is
detrimental to the effectiveness of counseling. The techniques that I
would choose to confront sin would be both pondering and questioning.
"Pondering is sometimes a helpful way to confront clients indirectly and
cause them to think more intently about their choices" as well as "by
asking questions, counselors are sometimes able to access clients' values
of right and wrong" (McMinn, 2011). The purpose of using these
techniques is for the care-seeker to receive revelation on their own rather
than the counselor providing an answer. On the other hand, the technique
that I would not use is silence. While "sometimes the best way to confront
sin is to remain silent and let clients work out their feelings of guilt and
questions of the blame on their own," I do not want the client to become
dependent on my opinion and reject their self-reflection or revelation from
God (McMinn, 2011).
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References
Entwistle, D. N. (2015). Integrative approaches to psychology and
Christianity: An introduction to worldview issues, philosophical
foundations, and models of integration (3rd ed.). Eugene, OR: Wipf &
Stock Publishers.
McMinn, M. R. (2011). Psychology, theology, and spirituality in Christian
counseling (Rev. ed.). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
